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Report: Loretta Lynn Indeed a Teen Bride, but Not as Underage as She Previously Claimed

According to a published report, it turns out the country music icon is actually three years older than what she's been telling people all her life, which would effectively quash her claim to have married at the age of 13—an account chronicled in the 1980 biopic Coal Miner's Daughter—though it wouldn't change the fact that she was still a teen bride.

Previously, Lynn was thought to be 77 years old, but the new revelations, which surfaced after a search of her birth certificate at Kentucky's Office of Vital Statistics in Frankfort, revealed the singer is actually 80, born April 14, 1932—not 1935 as she led folks to believe.

Not only that, but the investigation also uncovered a marriage license signed by Lynn and two affidavits filed in 1965 by her mother, Clara Marie Ramey, and S. W. Ward Jr., who was not related, which listed the same birth date. Further proof was discovered in the Kentucky Historical Society, which kept a digital copy of the 1940 census, that stated Melvin Webb, the singer's father, had a daughter named Loretta aged 7.

Put it all together and Lynn was actually 15, not 13 years old (which would have been illegal under Kentucky law) when she swapped vows with 21-year-old Oliver Lynn Jr., better known as Doolittle Lynn, on Jan. 10, 1948.

Of course, as anyone knows from seeing the 1980 movie that won Sissy Spacey a Best Actress Oscar for playing her, Lynn had four children by the time she was 18 (make that 20 now).

Nancy Russell, Lynn's rep, was out of the office and could not be reached for comment. But the Blue Kentucky Girl did discuss her age, albeit obliquely, in her 2001 memoir, aptly titled Coal Miner's Daughter.

"When I was born, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the president for several years. That's the closest I'm gonna come to telling my age in this book, so don't go looking for it," she wrote. "I'm trying to make a living singing songs. I don't need nobody out there saying, 'She don't look bad considering she's such-and-such years old.'"

We're pretty sure the controversy won't affect the upcoming Broadway musical version of Coal Miner's Daughter slated to star Zooey Deschanel in the title role.

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Your information may be shared with other NBCUniversal businesses and used to better tailor our services and advertising to you. For more details about how we use your information, see our Privacy Policy. If you are located outside of the U.S., your information may be transferred to, processed and used in the U.S.